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What about “Louisbourg” and “Louisville?” was a comment about last week’s column.

Those and other place names are today’s concern.

Louisbourg was a large fortress built by France in 1720 on a hill facing the Atlantic Ocean on Île Royale (now Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton) and overlooking a harbour entrance. The name gave recognition to King Louis XV.

In 1597, at another inlet’s fishing village a bit farther north, Fort Sainte-Anne had been built, so named for Jesus’ grandmother, Mary’s mother. The settlement was later called Port Dauphin for Louis XV’s eldest son. “Dauphin” was a title given to eldest-son successors to the French throne. Its English meaning is “Dolphin” — reference to a coat-of-arms symbol from Vienna which passed through marriage to France’s royal family. Dauphin Louis predeceased his father, but not before having three sons each of whom in his turn became king: Louis XVI, Louis XVIII, and Charles X.

As the U.S. State of Kentucky was sectioned from the Louisiana Territory in the late 1700s, Americans were still appreciative of France’s support during their war of independence. Thus was the state’s major settlement called “Louisville” for King Louis XVI, and a county named “Bourbon” (yes, as linked to whiskey) for said king’s dynasty surname — with that county’s seat located in a town named Paris. The state capital, however, is Frankfort.

A village near St. Hyacinthe, Québec, is named St. Louis in honour of canonized King Louis IX of 13th Century France. Was this Hyacinth(e) male or female?

Hyacinth, aka Jacek Odrowaz (1185-1257), was a Roman Catholic fellow from Poland who went to Paris for religious studies then moved on to Rome where he met the founder of the Dominican Friars which group he joined before returning to his homeland to pursue his sacred mission.

The Canadian province with the most places named for saints is Québec.

I doubt that many people think of the saintly person when they hear about or see directional signs in and around Montreal for places like Saint Zotique, Saint Lambert, and Saint Hubert.

In the year 204 c.e. when Christianity was outlawed, Zoticus was an outspoken committed Christian who suffered execution by Roman authorities. As a martyr, he was later declared a saint.

Saint Lambert (636-700) was a bishop in the Netherlands who, when there were suspicious deaths to facilitate politically motivated remarriages, would not endorse the conspired arrangements. He also thus became a victim of murder. A community in the Longueil section of Montreal is named for him.

Saint Hubert took Lambert’s place as bishop. He was later credited with having an oddly miraculous cure for rabies as contracted by humans from animals. Another community in the Longueil section of Montreal is named for him.

The St. Hubert restaurant chain, known for its barbecued chicken, is so named for its first 1951 establishment in central Montreal’s Rue St. Hubert from where an efficient home delivery service was offered.